BAND INFO
One of the more talented garage bands of the mid-'60s, with a more professional and pop/rock bent than the average garage outfit. The Grodes cut a half-dozen singles between 1965 and 1967, several of which charted in their hometown of Tucson, AZ. They sported a pleasantly driving, melodic sound with obvious debts to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Zombies, the Kingsmen, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, and frat rock, but ultimately didn't offer anything original enough to make them stand out from the pack. Their most lasting contribution arose when they briefly changed their names to the Tongues of Truth and cut the uncharacteristically tough punker "Let's Talk About Girls," which was covered in a much more famous version (later anthologized on Nuggets) by the Chocolate Watchband. The Grodes broke up in 1968 after briefly adding female singer Patti McCarron; lead singer and songwriter Manny Freiser married her and teamed up with her professionally in the soft rock duo Fire & Rain, who released an album for Mercury in 1973.
Album Review
Let's Talk About Girls compiles tracks from the two leading Tucson bands from 1964 to 1968, the Grodes and the Dearly Beloved. These groups were rivals in their time; the Grodes could be considered the Stones to the Dearly Beloved's Beatles. Both bands are versatile enough to appeal to pop and punk fans, but in general, the Grodes had a harder rock edge, while the Dearly Beloved had stronger vocal harmonies. There are, however, exceptions in both cases. The title track, the Grodes original "Let's Talk About Girls," was released as the only record by the Tongues of Truth, a spontaneous joke-name change given by the band's manager, DJ Dan Gates. For years, the Tongues were thought to be an alias of San Jose's Chocolate Watchband, who also covered that song. The Dearly Beloved nearly broke nationally on the strength of their single "Peep Peep Pop Pop," which led to a contract with Columbia Records. After an album's worth of recording sat on a shelf, the band sued to get out of the contract but broke up soon after. Several of the unreleased Columbia sessions tracks finally see the light of day here.
THE DEARLY BELOVED
THE TONGUES OF TRUTH
THE GRODES
